Week 7 Essay: Racism is Culture

Before I get bombarded with hatred and people thinking I'm some close-minded redneck, I want to make it clear that I do NOT condone racism. I think the thought of finding someone as less of a person just because of their background or skin color is completely wrong, and quite frankly, just awful.

However, with that said, my entire essay revolves around the importance of these stories. As some other people have expressed, Song of the South was a classic viewing back in my childhood. I remember the classic songs like "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" and the fantastic cartoons revolving around Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. The character of Uncle Remus is a great, Uncle Tom's Cabin-type grandfather figure. In fact, every time I've been to Disney World, I always make it a habit to ride Splash Mountain, as it is themed around these characters and stories.

Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby

As most people might know now, Song of the South has been banned, apparently for its "racist view of African Americans". I do not understand this. I get that there are some stereotypical attributes applied to certain characters, but this stems from the source material. These Brer Rabbit stories are told stylistically in the vein of 1800s African American dialect. A common example would be when someone is talking, the words following the statement are "sez Brer Rabbit, sezee". This can make the reading confusing, but it so perfectly captures the culture of the individuals telling the stories.

The morals and the concept of outwitting the bad guys transcends African myth and folklore and can be applied universally. However, I think it is incredibly important to keep that intact, despite whatever political correctness suggests, because this is history, this is culture, and this is what can help unlock the mysteries of various societies that we may not know a whole lot about.

The Brer Rabbit Collection

Week 7 Storybook: Hunting Wabbits

Elmer Fudd tiptoed quietly through the forest in his big hat and his hunting rifle. He was incredibly careful not to make a sound. Anytime he heard some noise, he would shh whoever made the noise and tell them to be vewy, vewy quiet as he was hunting wabbits. He was after one particular "wabbit", in fact, as he had been tricked by the rabbit before. The rabbit was named Bugs Bunny, and he was a very tricky rabbit and always made poor Elmer Fudd look like a fool. What had Elmer Fudd done to Bugs? He just wanted to feed his family some delicious rabbit wabbit.

Bugs was a family man, and he had quite a big one. He had several children and he loved each and every one of them. He would occasionally see Elmer Fudd come creeping near his rabbit hole in hopes of stealing a little bunny, but Bugs was quite protective of them. Every time Elmer was around, Bugs would find a way to trick him into some big blunder and Elmer would lay low for awhile. Quite frankly, Bugs was getting kind of tired of it. He was about to go outside for a quick view of the surrounding area - it had been some time since Elmer had last attempted to turn him and his family into dinner - when he heard someone yelling outside.

"Hewp!! Huwwy! Someone hewp me!!"

Bugs peeked out of his hole. It was Elmer Fudd.

"Hewp me, wabbit! Some hunters awe after me!!"

Bugs let him into the hole and brought him over to a chest. "Hop in here, Elmer!" So Elmer did as he was told. "Those hunters will never find you in here!" Bugs then ran over to the fireplace and placed a kettle of tea above it.

Elmer popped his head out of the chest. "What awe you doing, mistew wabbit?"

"I'm getting you a nice cup of tea. You must be thirsty after all that running!"

Elmer closed the chest. Bugs came over and poked some holes into the chest.

"What awe you doing now, mistew wabbit?"

"I'm poking holes in this so you an breathe, Elmer!"

Elmer was really starting to think that he had misjudged the rabbit. He was an alright guy. Maybe after this, they could become close friends! However, about that moment, he began to feel the scalding water. "YOWWWW!!!!" He screamed and he leapt out of the chest and clambered up the hole as fast as he could. He ran away, hoping that the hunters that had been chasing him might find him.

Bugs followed him up the hole and watched as he ran away screaming. He looked back and winked. Then he went back into his chair and began to take a nap. "Finally, some peace."

Brer Rabbit?

Author's Note
I took one of my favorite Brer Rabbit stories, The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf, and I turned it into a Looney Tunes cartoon. The entire time I was reading the story, this is what I had in my mind. The connection I thought was almost seamless, and I hope everyone enjoys reading it and can see the connection just as easily as I can.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

I love these stories! As I've read on a lot of other people's blogs, I really enjoy reading stories based off of movies and TV shows I used to watch. These classic cartoons are popping into my head as I read them and it is a wonderful bit of nostalgia for me. I think my favorite story so far, from the first section, has to either be The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story or The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf. I love both of them almost equally. I'm quite a big fan of these stories, even though they are quite formulaic, because I love to watch the dumb bad guy (who thinks he's rather smart and cunning) be outwitted by the good guy, whose nonchalance makes me find it even funnier.

The language is a bit difficult to pick up, and I kept trying to read it aloud to help it make more sense. I hate to say it, but reading the stories aloud made me feel almost racist. I know these stories have a place and everything, but the culture I've grown up in has made it seem like this isn't okay. I don't know if that makes any sense, but I may try to do my essay on it later in the week and expand on what I'm really trying to say. Because, like most things, it makes sense in my head...just not when I read it back.

One things, I can't believe I forgot to mention yesterday is the fact that most every animal is "Mr. So-and-so". I find that really interesting, and I'm not entirely sure why, but it makes the story that much more entertaining. Not just because of the personification of the animals, but more so because of the attitude, respect and reverence given to them by these titles. I think it's really cool to read about Mr. Fox or Mr. Wolf or Mr. Rabbit. I kind of like almost as much as I like the "Brer" titles. I think the term "Brer", here, has a ton of cultural significance to it, and it helps give the characters life.

I think my favorite story from the second half is Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear, just because I love the classic formula that I mentioned before. I actually had a colleague in my Feature Screenwriting class with Dr. Andy Horton read a Disney-fied Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and Brer Bear story for a script assignment that we had to do involving a children's book. Hearing him describe his story came flooding back to me as I reading this as well as the other stories in this collection. I think having a collection of Uncle Remus stories is a fantastic thing to possess.